Celebrating Hanukkah in 8A

 

Today 8A Celebrated Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of light.

The learners watched a PowerPoint, telling them what this means, why and how it is celebrated.

Firstly the learners learnt that Hanukkah means “ rededicate” which in turns means to make something special when broken. 

Hanukkah is a celebration of a miracle in the Jewish religion. 

The king, called Antiochus was making bad choices and told the people from  Jerusalem that they weren’t allowed to go to their temple and he wanted them to follow his beliefs. 

He then got his army to fight the Jewish people from Israel to give up their own beliefs to follow his. He also destroyed lots of temples. 

A man called Judah Maccabee thought the king was wrong and formed his own army with his brothers. This new arm was called the Maccabees and was a smaller army than the kings. The Maccabees fought with all their might in what they believed was right, and won.

They reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem which was a terrible state.They worked hard to replace the building and whilst doing this they found a small container of oil to keep the candle, called menorah alight. The candle burned for eight days and nights and the brothers knew that god was with them.

From then on candles are lit. Games are also played and food is eaten. 

The pupils did a super job colouring in Hanukkah pictures, making cards for their families and using their hand prints to make their very own Menorah. Happy Hanukkah everyone!

 

8A celebrating Hanukkah